I recently booked flights from Dublin to Leeds/Bradford (over and back on the same day) going to Leeds United hospitality as a Christmas present.
A few days after booking I received 2 emails (flights were booked separately) around 1am in the morning advising me that both flights had been cancelled and that I could reschedule them or get a refund. I awoke to these emails around 9am and upon looking at their website there were no flights available into or out of any of the UK airports in close proximity to Leeds/Bradford for the first 7 days of February. Initially I assumed that the cancellations may have had something to do with Mr O'Leary's threat that he would reduce the volume of traffic into and out of the UK as a result of increased UK taxes, but I suspect that they may have been hacked now.
I tried to ring them and did not get to speak to a human and as a result having already paid for the hospitality (expensive and non-refundable) I had no choice but to book new flights with an alternate carrier (at a much greater cost) and to also incur the additional cost of an unplanned overnight stay. Having made these alternate arrangement I subsequent receive two emails from Ryanair around 12.30pm (over 11 hours after their initial emails were sent) "apologising for any inconvenience caused, but the flights had been cancelled in error and were now reinstated.
Having had no luck when ringing earlier that morning I then tried their chatbot option to no avail and subsequently emailed them looking for a refund for the two return flights that they had cancelled and suggested that if they had any code of ethics in relation to customer service that not only would they refund me but also reimburse me for the addition costs that I had to incur resulting from their initial email. The only contact that I have had since was from their marketing department asking me to complete a survey on my experience with their customer service which I did with both barrels. I've sent a subsequent email to their customer service today again seeking refunds but doubt if I'll get a response. I guess I will need to request a chargeback from my card company in order to get my refund or would the small claims court be worth considering if I want to recoup my additional costs as well as my refund?
A few days after booking I received 2 emails (flights were booked separately) around 1am in the morning advising me that both flights had been cancelled and that I could reschedule them or get a refund. I awoke to these emails around 9am and upon looking at their website there were no flights available into or out of any of the UK airports in close proximity to Leeds/Bradford for the first 7 days of February. Initially I assumed that the cancellations may have had something to do with Mr O'Leary's threat that he would reduce the volume of traffic into and out of the UK as a result of increased UK taxes, but I suspect that they may have been hacked now.
I tried to ring them and did not get to speak to a human and as a result having already paid for the hospitality (expensive and non-refundable) I had no choice but to book new flights with an alternate carrier (at a much greater cost) and to also incur the additional cost of an unplanned overnight stay. Having made these alternate arrangement I subsequent receive two emails from Ryanair around 12.30pm (over 11 hours after their initial emails were sent) "apologising for any inconvenience caused, but the flights had been cancelled in error and were now reinstated.
Having had no luck when ringing earlier that morning I then tried their chatbot option to no avail and subsequently emailed them looking for a refund for the two return flights that they had cancelled and suggested that if they had any code of ethics in relation to customer service that not only would they refund me but also reimburse me for the addition costs that I had to incur resulting from their initial email. The only contact that I have had since was from their marketing department asking me to complete a survey on my experience with their customer service which I did with both barrels. I've sent a subsequent email to their customer service today again seeking refunds but doubt if I'll get a response. I guess I will need to request a chargeback from my card company in order to get my refund or would the small claims court be worth considering if I want to recoup my additional costs as well as my refund?